The one-day schedule of Wang Jianlin, the owner of Wanda Group, was spread on China’s social media recently, which showed the to-do-list of the country’s richest man on November 30 (Beijing time).

The detailed to-do list (link in Chinese), which was first released by the WeChat account of Wanda Group on December 1, shows the exact time frames of everything Wang planned to do that day including when he got up, did exercise, had breakfast and lunch, and how long he spent on the road.

Wang Jianlin’s schedule of November 30 Photo: Weibo

The schedule photo quickly went viral on China’s social media and triggered a wave of discussion on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like Chinese microblogging platform, as it is rare in China for ordinary people to have an opportunity to see the schedule of a renowned person.

According to the to-do list, Wang was in Jakarta on November 30, and got up at 4 am, did exercise during 4:15 and 5:00, had breakfast between 5:00 and 5:30, headed to the airport during 5:45 and 6:30, and arrived at Haikou, the capital city of South China’s Hainan province, at 12:15.

The WeChat account of Wanda Group also describes Wang’s breakfast as “very simple”: a bowl of Chinese porridge, a piece of bread and some pickles, which is nothing unusual for the ordinary Chinese.

While many netizens speak highly of Wanda Group and Wang’s professional dedication, the most popular positive comment was that “the one who is better than you is working harder than you.”

“Am I the only one who have noticed that he gets up at 4 am? Really admire him”, said @TtZITt314 under the hashtag of Richest Man Wang Jianlin’s One Day.

“Wanda’s spirit of execution and professional spirit are worth learning from. As a former Wanda staff, I’m really proud. The harder you work, the happier you will be,” said @周欣欣.

“He is much more hard-working than many young people,” said @ VEM-曦阳团队 阿来.

According to the WeChat account of Wanda Group, Wang was heading to Haikou from Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, to have a meeting with local officials of Hainan province and sign an agreement with the Haikou government, in which Wanda Group announced that it would invest 50 billion yuan to build in Haikou a 16th Wanda City. 

Wang Jianlin, chairman of Dalian Wanda Group Photo: Reuters

The schedule on social media also shows Wang only had a light meal after the signing ceremony and headed to his office as soon as he arrived in Beijing at 18:10.

Wang Jianlin, 62, whose dream was to become a general, is now being called by media the “wealthiest and most influential entrepreneur on earth”, whose global empire now includes several of the world’s leading companies in film production and distribution such as Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment, America’s second-largest cinema chain AMC Entertainment and Hoyts Cinema, the second-largest cinema chain in Oceanic.

Wang used to say that he doesn’t need that much money and “it’s never about the wealth but the process of pursuing wealth. As long as the process is thrilling, the numbers in the end don’t matter.”

Wang’s success has transformed him from a former soldier to a celebrity in China where masses worship successful business persons like him and Jack Ma Yun, owner of Alibaba.

Yet not all Chinese are having big dreams. While some users on social media are getting inspired by Wang’s schedule, there are also some “realists” who show little concern and would rather live their own lives as long as they are happy.

“As long as you lead the life that you want, it is good. You don’t have to force yourself to drink the chicken soup. Everyone is different,” said @2017司考就是干.

“If (being successful) means getting up at 4 am every day, I prefer my current life. It just sounds too tiring to live like that,” said @武汉v刘正涛-操盘手.

“Since the richest man in China has to work so hard, it’s irrelevant how hard I work,” said @我是中队长L.

“Since you have made so much money and are aged, why not take some time to enjoy life and travel,” another @武汉v刘正涛-操盘手 said.

Weibo users photoshop Wang Jianlin with captions such as “Target 100million”, “Read much”, and “Work hard”. Photo: Weibo

It is not the first time Wang triggers a wave of discussion on Weibo. Last time was when he said to those who want to become rich quick to “start with a small target, like 100 million RMB”, in an interview on China’s Oprah Winfrey show presented by Lu Yu, a Chinese celebrity talk-show host, in August this year.

Screenshots of Wang in the interview were spread on social media and “start with a small target” became a hot phrase on the Internet and is still being frequently used today.

While some users commented that “Wang’s small step is a big step for mankind” referring to Wang’s small target, @中国青年网 remarked after the exposure of Wang’s schedule that “this is how the ‘small target’ is realized.”